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Welcome back to The Impossible Ad, a series of case studies that follows agencies building “impossible” campaigns with the help of Google AI. Previously, we talked to creative agency Tombras about its AI-driven out-of-home campaign. Here, we explore how creatives at Dept used AI to launch a successful video campaign for sunglasses brand Pit Viper.
It’s not what I expected to see at an agency showcase, I’ll tell you that.
As part of our Google AI Lighthouse program, we challenge agencies to make the “impossible ad possible” with the help of Google AI. These agencies may interpret the brief however they wish as long as they use Google AI to deliver. My favorite aspect of the program is raising the curtain on cutting-edge creative work.
As far as I knew, Pit Viper was a sports-sunglasses company looking to connect with their young, hip audience. “Whatever your definition of party, that is where Pit Viper aims to be,” said Troy Haas, director of performance marketing at Pit Viper, referring to a sensibility the brand calls, “Party Mountain.”
No one said anything about a daredevil snowboarder made of hamburger meat. (His Pit Vipers remain intact, even when he does not.)
My favorite aspect of the program is raising the curtain on cutting-edge creative work.
But that, among other fantastical sights, is what the emcees of Party Mountain — in this case, marketing and technology company Dept — shared with us that evening. The team showed us how they used Gemini and Veo 2 to brainstorm and create. Then they showed us how Google Display & Video 360 got their vision in front of millions.
Watching how the agency used AI to reach and authentically connect with audiences on YouTube, it became clear to me that other creative teams could learn from their experiences. Here’s how Dept made the campaign, and why they say it changed the way they work with AI.
Getting to good, faster
Gemini’s first contribution: Generating a proof of concept for every first-round idea, including the good, the bad, and the unforgettably strange.
“We asked Gemini to riff on scenarios to ensure that each of our concepts had legs,” said Paul Bjork, creative director at Dept. These AI-generated early rounds helped the team distill the magic of the brand’s unique voice.
The story of “Meat Man” did not make the cut. (He did, however, make a brief appearance as a backup dancer in the final cut.) Instead, the team moved forward with “Redefine Performance.” “We wanted to showcase Pit Viper’s versatility, proving they perform not just during extreme sports but in any situation,” said Natalie Kunstadter, VP of creative at Dept. This shaped the idea of “low P[erformance],” which the ad’s protagonist overcomes when he dons a pair of Pit Vipers.
[Flash warning, 00:11–00:13] Dept used Google Gemini to riff on Pit Viper’s 1980s nostalgia vibe to create an impossible ad campaign that increased overall ad recall and specific demo lift in just four weeks.
To meet their ambitious deadline, the team had to kick off production in under a week. They used Gemini to turn their scripts into AI prompts. Then they fed those AI-generated prompts to Google Labs’ Veo 2, which turned them into videos. “With proper prompting, Veo 2 was able to create scenes that felt more realistic than the output of other text-to-image and text-to-video tools we’ve tried,” said Bjork.
The exercise taught the team how to structure prompts more effectively, using critical details such as subject, setting, lighting, camera movement, and mood. While more detail was generally helpful, the team found that adding too much risked muddling instructions.
AI was useful for quickly generating a lot of ideas and guiding the brainstorm.
They also found that they were able to maintain control over voice and tone while using AI, an important asset for a brand whose fans love authentic silliness. “We asked AI to help execute on the vision that we had,” exploring themes and elaborating on specific examples, said Bjork. “We found it was useful for quickly generating a lot of ideas and then guiding the brainstorm, pushing Gemini to go to weird places.”
Delegating the fast-tracked tasks
Halfway through their production timeline, the seasoned creative team found themselves in a bind. They needed to produce an advertising case-study video as part of the program, but all hands were on deck to bring “Redefine Performance” to life. Without a creative mind to spare, they had Gemini draft the case-study script and provide ideas for edits.
Overall, Google AI helped Dept achieve a 400% decrease in their production timeline, mainly by reducing the need to start from scratch. “Our shoot involved a number of different scenes that would typically each require their own art direction, set design, staging, lighting, and post-production editing,” said Kunstadter. “With Veo 2, we created the scenes in a matter of hours.”
Seeing firsthand how Gemini and Veo 2 accelerated this process would alter the team’s creative approach to AI. “Gemini has a good sense for language and ideas, and is very useful for getting a lot to react to in a very short time,” said Bjork. “It still requires a lot of curation, of course, but AI has become part of our creative workflow, helping to achieve more in shorter timelines.”
The advantage of AI was in enabling speed, but not at the cost of “the invaluable human touch,” said Cameron McCourt, client partner director at Dept.
The magic comes from the choices we make and how we use the tools, not the tool itself.
“By combining the strengths of AI with the unique insights and creativity of our team, we were able to speed up our creative process and produce truly innovative results,” said McCourt.
Bjork’s advice for agencies interested in exploring AI in their workflows? “Give it a chance. If you’re open to finding ways to get to ideas and executions faster, it really does help. But don’t expect it to solve [the brief] and do all the work for you,” he said. “The magic comes from the choices we make and how we use the tools, not the tool itself.”
Driving ‘high P’ where it matters
The team launched the campaign just a few days before the Super Bowl. In just four days, it generated a 3.8% lift in ad recall, including a 6.5% lift among 18- to 24-year-olds, and put Dept’s ads in front of 10.3 million users. The team used Google’s AI-powered efficient reach program to optimize ad formats.
Thanks to YouTube’s AI-assisted campaigns, Dept was able to optimize for its objective, awareness, and get results fast. Those time savings included a 60% decrease in time spent on audience design. “YouTube helped us blast the ad where it would be watched, not just seen,” said Kundstadter.
Generative AI tools helped the team determine its best ideas and turn them into impactful creative, faster.
In the three weeks since the campaign launched, the team has been working on optimizations. “Within that time, we have seen a 19% increase in sessions from Google Analytics, including a 7.8% increase in organic sessions,” said Kelly Gordon, senior manager of programmatic advertising at Dept. The team also saw $2.94 cost per impression, pointing to efficiency gains.
In short, generative AI tools helped the team determine its best ideas and turn them into impactful video ad creative, faster. AI-powered media tools then helped them delight crucial audiences with their authentic (and proudly quirky) brand voice. You don’t have to “get” the Pit Viper brand to see how AI can unleash our imaginations in unforeseen ways.
If you’re excited to see what else the industry does with this technology, stay tuned for the next installment of The Impossible Ad.
